Saturday, January 17, 2015

Windy Ride to the "Sleeper House" and Westlands Park

It was a very clear and sunny day here in Colorado, and thrown in for good measure there were some strong winds to keep one's attention.

The intent today was to find a good spot to photograph Brigitta, my '87 BMW R80 Airhead with the The Sculptured House a.k.a the Sleeper House (Woody Allen's 1973 movie "Sleeper") in the background. More info here on the house: LINK and LINK2

This was about the best spot I could find where I could include my motorcycle, it's on US40 and the junction with South Lookout Mountain Road.

Brigitta and the Sculptured House

I should have ridden Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig as there were several roads in the area that might have rendered better angles on the house but there still have remnants of snow and ice.

All morning, as I rode about looking for spots to shoot the house from, Brigitta and I were thrown some good punches by the winds coming from the west. I missed the surefootedness of three wheels today! Along with the strong winds, there was nothing like approaching a curve that's covered in the shade of trees and wondering if there was ice on the road eh?

Brigitta and I retreated from the mountains after we got this shot of the mountains from the Buffalo Overlook exit.

Those are not clouds near the peaks of the mountains,

that is snow being blown off the peaks by the high winds.

We made it back into Metro Denver with no issues except for some brief episodes of wind shifting one's position in one's lane.

As it was such a clear day, I detoured into the Denver Tech Center and positioned Brigitta across the street from the entrance to Westlands Park.

Westlands Park

This time I ventured into the parking garage structure to the east of the above spot in the office center parking lot. We rode up to the next to highest level and got these shots:

Going artsy with Brigitta

The winds had died down once I left the Denver Tech Center so it was smooth riding across the Cherry Creek Dam Road and on towards my home neighborhoods. About 110 miles covered today, so good exercise for Brigitta. I plan on doing her 105K mile service a bit early this coming week to synchronize her new odometer to the service schedule.